Great Violinists And Pianists eBook

In the spring of 1837 Gottschalk found himself in
Havana, whither he had gone to make the beginning
of a musical tour through the West Indies. His
first concert was given at the Tacon Theatre, which
Mr. Maretzek, who was giving operatic representations
then in Havana, yielded to him for the occasion.
The Cubans gave the pianist a tropical warmth of welcome,
and Gott-schalk’s letters from the old Spanish
city are full of admiration for the climate, the life,
and the people, with whom there was something strongly
sympathetic in his own nature. The artist had
not designed to protract his musical wanderings in
the beautiful island of the Antilles for any considerable
period, but his success was great, and the new experiences
admirably suited his dreaming, sensuous, pleasure-loving
temperament. Everywhere the advent of Gottschalk
at a town was made the occasion of a festival, and
life seemed to be one continued gala-day with him.

V.

In the early months of 1860 the young pianist, Arthur
Napoleon, joined Gottschalk at Havana, and the two
gave concerts throughout the West Indies, which were
highly successful. The early summer had been designed
for a tour through Central America and Venezuela, but
a severe attack of illness prostrated Gottschalk,
and he was not able to sail before August for his
new field of musical conquest. Our artist did
not return to New York till 1862, after an absence
of five years, though his original plan had only contemplated
a tour of two years. It must not be supposed that
Gottschalk devoted his time continually to concert
performances and composition, though he by no means
neglected the requirements of musical labor.
As he himself confesses, the balmy climate, the glorious
landscapes, the languid dolce far niente, which
tended to enervate all that came under their magic
spell, wrought on his susceptible temperament with
peculiar effect. A quotation from an article written
by Gottschalk, and published in the “Atlantic
Monthly,” entitled “Notes of a Pianist,”
will furnish the reader a graphic idea of the influence
of tropical life on such an imaginative and voluptuous
character, passionately fond of nature and outdoor
life: “Thus, in succession, I have visited
all the Antilles—­Spanish, French, English,
Dutch, Swedish, and Danish; the Guianas, and the coasts
of Para. At times, having become the idol of
some obscure pueblo, whose untutored ears I
had charmed with its own simple ballads, I would pitch
my tent for five, six, eight months, deferring my
departure from day to day, until finally I began seriously
to entertain the idea of remaining there for evermore.
Abandoning myself to such influences, I lived without
care, as the bird sings, as the flower expands, as
the brook flows, oblivious of the past, reckless of
the future, and sowed both my heart and my purse with
the ardor of a husbandman who hopes to reap a hundred
ears for every grain he confides to the earth.